Cubs edge Kershaw, Dodgers, 3-2

Dodgers Clayton Kershaw on the mound in the first inning. The Cubs were in town to play the Dodgers. Los Angeles, CA. 8/24/2013(John McCoy/LA Daily News)

It all went wrong for Clayton Kershaw Tuesday night.

Which is to say the Dodgers’ ace saw his scoreless streak end at 18 innings. On an unearned run.

The line drive off his left shin in the sixth inning punctuated his shortest outing since April 23.

For the Major League leader in earned-run average, giving up two runs – one earned – in 5 2/3 innings with nine strikeouts constitutes a bad night.

If Kershaw claims the National League Cy Young award this season, it will be despite the number in the loss column, which grew one larger after the Chicago Cubs’ 3-2 defeat of the Dodgers in front of 52,326 at Dodger Stadium.

“That wasn’t I guess what we’ve come to see as typical Clayton tonight,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. “I thought they fought him pretty good. Even some of the strikeouts he gets and outs he got, they fouled off and fouled off some balls. He wasn’t quite as sharp as he’s been.”

The Dodgers have averaged less than one run per game in the last four losses for Kershaw (13-8), who remained in the game after being hit in a left ankle he said was fine after the game.

As dominant as he has been this season – Kershaw’s 1.72 ERA entering Tuesday was the fourth lowest for any pitcher through 27 starts in 40 years – he has lost a surprising eight games and three times received not a single run of support from the Dodgers.

But Kershaw’s worst, for example, represents another pitcher’s best. Seriously.

Joe Blanton, who has struggled across town for the Angels, never gave up less than two runs in any of his 20 starts this season.

Kershaw’s counterpart, Cubs 2013 All-Star Travis Wood, has a 3.09 ERA on the season but entered with a collective 5.16 ERA in first five August starts. The left-hander allowed just one unearned run on five hits with a pair of walks in seven innings to the best offense in the Major Leagues since June 22.

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Kershaw preferred to discuss Wood rather than his lack of run support.

“Wood’s a good pitcher. He’s an All-Star for a reason,” Kershaw said. “He kept us off balance tonight, had a good cutter working all game. It’s just one of those things. You’re going to run into some good pitchers every once in a while.”

Wood (8-10) aided his own cause with a leadoff single to left field in the third inning and was driven in by Dioner Navarro for an unerned run on a catcher’s interference scored an error by the Dodgers’ A.J. Ellis.

A Cubs team with a .238 batting average that ranks the third worst in the Majors, had two base runners in five of the first six innings and collected seven hits off Kershaw, the most he has allowed in more than two months. He needed 108 pitches to get through 5 2/3 innings.

In the sixth inning, first baseman Cody Ransom’s single was followed by Kershaw’s third walk of the night. Starlin Castro followed with an RBI single, prompting visible frustration from Kershaw as the last place team in the National League Central took a 2-0 lead.

The Dodgers cut into the lead in the bottom of the sixth thanks to Hanley Ramirez, who went 3 for 4 and scored both the Dodgers’ runs.

Ramirez, who blooped a single in front of the right fielder in the sixth inning, advanced to second when Wood overthrew the first baseman on a pick-off attempt and scored on Juan Uribe’s single to right field.

“I didn’t feel like we weren’t just up there wailing,” Mattingly said. “I think we were trying to get to (Wood) and kind of started whittling away, but just couldn’t get to him.”

The Cubs promptly regained a two-run lead in the seventh.

Donnie Murphy produced the second single of the night off the ankle of a Dodger pitcher which reliever Ronald Belisario followed by hitting a batter to lead the bases with no outs in the seventh. Ransom’s ensuing double-play ground ball was enough to score the eventual winning run.

Ramirez pulled the Dodgers within a run on Andre Ethier’s RBI single in the eighth inning, but Skip Schumaker’s double play ended the Dodgers’ threat.

After the second-place Arizona Diamondbacks prevailed in 10 innings on Tuesday, the Dodgers’ 8 ½ game in the National League West was still the second largest divisional lead in the Major Leagues next to the Atlanta Braves’ 13 game lead in the National League East.

The Dodgers have the best record in the Major Leagues since June 22, but have lost five of their last 10 games.

“I think we got some guys that are a little tired,” Mattingly said. “We’ve been a little bit run down. We’ll be fine.”